Pakistan Says It Foiled Terrorist Plot

As President Pervez Musharraf urged citizens to reject extremism, Pakistani authorities said they had foiled a plot to sabotage Saturday’s Independence Day celebrations in the capital.

Two days before, intelligence agencies in Islamabad arrested a number of terrorist suspects and seized rockets and missiles, a senior security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He declined to say what the target of the plot was and how many suspects were arrested, and he did not identify the suspects, other than to say that they were probably Pakistanis.

Official commemorations of the 57th anniversary of Pakistan’s independence from British rule proceeded Saturday amid tight security, although a flag-raising by interim Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was conducted in an Islamabad convention center instead of outside parliament as planned.

Since mid-July, Pakistan has detained more than 30 terrorist suspects and unearthed Al Qaeda intelligence that has led to about a dozen arrests in Britain and a terrorism alert in the United States.

On Saturday, officials reported the arrests of two key suspects in a July assassination attempt on Shaukat Aziz, the prime minister-designate.

Pakistani officials have said they suspect that the Al Qaeda terrorist network had a hand in the attack, which occurred southwest of Islamabad and left nine people dead, including the bomber. Aziz was not hurt.

Speaking at the presidential palace late Friday, Musharraf appealed to Pakistanis to reject extremism and intolerance and “fight off elements who want to push Pakistan into darkness.”

“Some foreign elements are engaged in terrorist activities in Pakistan while some of our own people are fanning sectarian hatred,” he said. “I am confident that the government, with the active collaboration of people, would crush such forces.”

Despite his admonition, six homemade bombs exploded Saturday in the city of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, shattering windows but causing no injuries, police said.

A man claiming to speak for a little-known nationalist group, Baluchistan Liberation Army, claimed responsibility in a call to the city’s press club. The claim could not be verified.